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Sunday, February 12, 2017

New German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier elected Sunday, 2/12. His Social Democrats prefer less 'saber-rattling' at Russia. Putin congratulated Steinmeier in a telegram and invited him to Moscow-Reuters

Steinmeier, a
Social Democrat who had served as foreign minister until last month, won
931 of the 1,239 valid votes by lawmakers and representatives of
Germany's 16 federal states. There 103 abstentions and 14 votes were
invalid.

After Bundestag president
Norbert Lammert announced the results, all representatives held a
standing ovation except for a few dozen members of the populist
Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.The
anti-immigrant AfD, which has no lawmakers in the lower house but holds
seats in 10 of Germany's 16 state parliaments, is forecast to be the
third-largest party after a general election on Sept. 24.

Russia wants the
European Union to lift sanctions imposed over its annexation of Crimea
and backing of separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine.

The German constitution mandates that a
special assembly is convened to elect presidents. It includes 630
lawmakers in the Bundestag lower house and an equal number of
representatives from the federal states.Current President Joachim Gauck steps down on March 18."

"(Additional reporting by Hans-Edzard Busemann in Berlin and Jack Stubbs
in Moscow; Writing by Joseph Nasr; Editing by Susan Fenton and David
Evans)"